And so the game is started. Justice Gomery has had his say, and so has the opposition. Paul Martin has accepted the result from the vote of non-confidence, and the new federal election has been called.

Now, I don't find the whole corruption scandal all that interesting, and neither are the issues of this campaign. What really concerns me is the whole election system! I think it's about time Canadians wake up and realize how unfair the "first past the post" system really is. If you take Alberta as an example: In the provincial election las fall, the conservatives won a "stunning" victory and won ca. 80 % of the seats. However, they only had around 40% of the votes! Where is the logic in this?? I hope we don't see similar results in the federal election coming up, but I'm afraid that is exactly what is gonna happen.

go proportional!

Soltair

Not at all. I think the american system is a bit like this, except that the proportions are also of about 50-50. Every state picks his would-be president... but some states are quite empty (regarding population) compared to others. And thus... the much much much people in NY state have as much influence as the not-so-much peopled Montana state, for ex.

The best system does not exist. Putting it your way would mean that we would not have any deputies... explain instead of criticizing. Come up with a whole system, explained and detailed, and I may change my mind.

withaar

I believe that more proportionality is certainly desireable, but not a direct translation of percentage into seats. Some form of regional representation is needed also. I would rather prefer a 2 house system where one is proportional and the other is representative. The proportional house would legislate and the proportional would have a limited power of review. Considering the current system, a more reasonable step might be to assign a number of seats in the parliament for proportional representation.

Alternatives may also improve the electoral system. In BC a referendum was held on the use of the "single transferable vote" (http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/public) which would also drastically improve (in my mind) the electoral process. Unfortunately the referendum just missed the pass mark, but that does not mean the BC government could not go ahead. This would avoid for example a past situation where the opposition party had 40% of the popular vote and 2 seats!

LumberJack

Sveinung wrote:

On Canada and their election system

And so the game is started. Justice Gomery has had his say, and so has the opposition. Paul Martin has accepted the result from the vote of non-confidence, and the new federal election has been called.

Now, I don't find the whole corruption scandal all that interesting, and neither are the issues of this campaign. What really concerns me is the whole election system! I think it's about time Canadians wake up and realize how unfair the "first past the post" system really is. If you take Alberta as an example: In the provincial election las fall, the conservatives won a "stunning" victory and won ca. 80 % of the seats. However, they only had around 40% of the votes! Where is the logic in this?? I hope we don't see similar results in the federal election coming up, but I'm afraid that is exactly what is gonna happen.

go proportional!

Canada has the unfortunate problem of such a big area with not so many people. If we were to switch to a Proportional System you could almost be guaranteed that our government will remain Minorities and we will have to deal with retarded governments like we currently have.

Although our system is not perfect, proportional representation will have its own problems as well.

mstreet

This has always been annoying for voters who want change in Canada.
What would be interesting to see is the percentage of eligible voters who actually vote within each province. I bet you will see that Alberta has a significant lead on Ontario.

LumberJack

mstreet wrote:

This has always been annoying for voters who want change in Canada.
What would be interesting to see is the percentage of eligible voters who actually vote within each province. I bet you will see that Alberta has a significant lead on Ontario.

Thank god it won't matter with the current system. It all depends on how mad Ontario is.